Sometimes a Question isn't about the Answer

"When is it going to rain here again?" my 7 year old asked. At the official start of summer, the truth is that we might not see rain until November.

I followed my curiousity and asked him, "Do you want it to rain again or not?"

"I do," he replied.

"Why do you want it to rain?"

"I like the sound the cars make when they drive through the deep puddles."

I never would have guessed that would be the reason behind the question. It led to a nice discussion about missing the northwest.

It was a good reminder that it's important not to get so caught up in answering the question that I miss the real concern behind it.

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Redefining "Worship"

Can you 'worship' without music?

I don't mean when you're at the ocean appreciating God's majesty in His creation. Or having an intense quiet time where God speaks so clearly through His word.

Can you sit in church and "worship" if there's no music?

No organ prelude. No hymns. No choruses. No special offeratory.

I know some people who can't. People who wish the sermon was a 15 minute devotion so we could all get back to singing. Well, if we were honest, they'd really rather have no speaking aside from the narrative between songs.

Recently, our church took a music 'fast.' I have a lot of respect for leaders who are willing to take something as entrenched and 'important' as music and take it completely out of the service in recognition that its importance and place has gotten out of whack.

Pastor gave the congregation homework of coming to the service on Sunday with something to share. If you're part of a standard, conservative-type church, there isn't much opportunity to stand from your seat and speak to the entire fellowship. Yet that's what was going on in the earliest churches.

So where we'd normally have been "led" (or entertained) in song, people throughout the church rose to share a word that was meaningful to them this week by means of encouraging the body through their "Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs." It was different, but it was a huge blessing.

I'm not one to pitch the baby out with the bathwater, so I don't think we need to leave the piano vacant and the mic's turned off for good. But it was refreshing to be reminded that we are all to minister to one another, not just show up to watch the "professionals" do it.

What would you think if you showed up to church on a Sunday morning and there was no music? If the pastor asked you to minister to your fellow church-members by sharing something meaningful God showed you this week, would you have anything to say? What one aspect of church would you be unwilling to give up?


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I don't want to be powerful

"Powerful."

It was the only word the professor next to me wrote after I gave my first answer in the panel interview for admission to the graduate counseling program.

It shouldn't have surprised me (although it did, as it was far from how I saw myself).

I come from a long line of powerful women. From my 6-foot tall carpet-layer grandmother to my also-tall, rescue-ministering mom, there's not a shrinking violet in the bunch.

But all of our good traits can have an unattractive--even harmful--flip side.

In our case, the 'power' is often expressed verbally. Strong words, strong delivery. I come from a family of yell-ers.

I never start out yelling. I always ask/instruct 'normally' two or three times. But my boys' "mom-deafness" too often prompts me to raise my voice to a level where there's no denying I was heard.

I vowed I wouldn't be that way when I grew up. But family patterns are hard to break and often repeat themselves despite our best efforts to overcome them.

As my Bible study ended last month, someone asked what we plan to study while the group takes the summer off.

I didn't say so at the time, but I'm planning to study what it means to have a 'gentle spirit.'

On a visit to my favorite used bookstore a couple weeks ago, I purchased a chain-reference Bible. I'm looking forward to starting with the verses I know about having a quiet or gentle spirit and following the thread to see what else God has to say on the topic.

"Powerful" has its place, I suppose. But in my day-to-day life, that's now how I want to live. And even elsewhere, it's not really the first impression I want to make.

Thirty years from now when someone asks my boys what I was like, I don't want them to say "powerful." I want them to say that I loved them and loved God. And I know that is much better demonstrated by being kind and gentle than being 'powerful.'

"What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?"
1 Corinthians 4:21

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Making Memorial Day Memorable-Exemplify Online

I hope you've been enjoying your holiday weekend; we have been! Whether you have the chance to get away or not, it's always nice to have a day that breaks the routine.

In the midst of cook-outs and camping, the real meaning of Memorial Day often gets overlooked. I'm afraid we're raising a generation who doesn't really even know the purpose of the observance.

So I looked into it and put together some information on how Memorial Day came to be and some tips for reviving the meaning with your family. You can find it today at Exemplify Online.

(I included an old family recipe too. I'd love to know if your family has it's own version.)

However you're celebrating, have a blessed Memorial Day.

Wandering in the Wilderness

Another lifetime ago, I taught at a Christian high school. I got started because they had an unexpectedly large freshman class and needed another Freshman Bible class. Because I'd taught high school Sunday school, I got recruited.

"Old Testament Survey" didn't seem too difficult, but there was no curriculum and I had to come up with it as we went. We spent the better part of the first semester on the Pentateuch--the first 5 books of the Bible. There's a LOT of territory covered in that section.

I remember as the year progressed that it seemed like we kept drawing the same conclusions about the Israelites.

They were the only people with God in their midst, but their faith wavered so much! "Lord, why are we in captivity? Free us!" "Lord, we're tired of manna! Could we have some meat?!"

In the midst of their grumbling, they made some bad choices. The kind of choices that added multiple years to their journey and ensured that those who originally left Egypt wouldn't actually get to enter the Promised Land.

Over and over it seemed like God would show them His will/plan for them and before you knew it, they were grumbling and disobeying again.

Recently, I think I've gotten a better idea of how they might have felt. The place we once were wasn't perfect, but it had become comfortable. Looking back, it seems like the better deal to what we've experienced recently.

I find myself sounding a lot like the Israelites, "Why did you bring us here? Three years, and no sign of the promised land ahead."

I'm trying to remember that I only see such a small part of the path, but God has our whole journey mapped out.

And it isn't even just about me or my family.

Every step we've been on has been part of His plan for the people around us too. Our fellow Israelites, also trying to reach their destination; even the "Philistines" and "Canaanites" who dwell all around us who God wants to reach as well.

And--probably the one that concerns me most--our children. I know God wants to lead to a Promised Land of their own. The journey we take them on can either set them on the right track or lead them to settle in a "hostile" territory of their own.

I'm grateful that God showed His people's failures for us to learn from. My heart so wants to remember the lessons from those who made bad choices and do better for myself.

Lord help me remember You can see the end of this path. You've always known where you are leading us. I pray that we land next in Your "Land flowing with milk and honey." Help us be aware of even your small provisions along the way and never to grumble in favor of meat when we have all the manna we can eat. I want to be your faithful follower; not a whining doubter.

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Wordless Wednesday--Look me in the eye when you say that!